Beginning of Summer White Lasagna

I love this lasagna, it is a change of pace from traditional lasagna. It is so flexible that it tastes great with almost every kind of vegetable. It has a lot of small steps, but it is well worth the time.This recipe makes a 9x12 pan.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, roasted in olive oil, salt and pepper, chopped
1-1.5 cups broccoli rabe, blanched and chopped
1-2 cups zucchini or summer squash, sliced, roasted in olive oil, salt and pepper
2 cups ricotta
9 lasagna noodles, boiled
2.5-3 cups shredded mozzarella
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
1.5 cups milk or half and half
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 cup white wine
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare chicken, vegetables, and pasta. Make the sauce in a sauce pan, starting with the butter and onion on medium heat. Sweat the onions, and add the flour to make a roux. Add the milk and the wine, whisking to combine and thicken. Set aside. In the pan, layer a bit of sauce, noodles, a little mozzarella, and vegetables. Add another layer with a little sauce, chicken, and ricotta. Add the top layer of noodles (each layer has 3 long noodles that fit in perfectly in the pan), pour the remaining sauce over the top and the remainder of the mozzarella. Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes, covered, remove the cover during the last 20 minutes or so of baking to brown the top.

Summer Vegetable CSA Week 2

Week 2: Two bunches each broccoli rabe and rainbow chard, a bag of spinach, a bag of snow peas, two tomatoes, a head of romaine lettuce as well as Boston lettuce, two bunches of chives, two summer squash, and garlic scapes. I loaded all into my vegetable ark and brought it home in the pouring rain.

Now that my oven is again working, I'm hoping to have a productive week in the kitchen. Whenever we get romaine, I know we're going to have salad. I do have a few odd-ball type recipes on deck that use cooked romaine but I'm waiting for a week where I'm swimming in lettuce. I love using Boston lettuce in place of bread, so I will keep it on hand as long as possible to use as a wrap or a taco shell. if not, there is always salad. The squash, spinach, and chard are all in just the right amount for a side dish. As usual, I will chop and freeze the chives. For the broccoli rabe, I am thinking about a ricotta cheese sauce with sausage meatballs or a white lasagna. As for the scapes and the peas, I just don't know, they are both great in salads. For this week, scapes are definitely my wild card. I will either make a pesto or incorporate them into a meal in place of garlic. I'd say the biggest challenge will be using the peas before they go bad, I may have to review my notes from last year and give myself a refresher course on peas.

I'll put this question to both of my readers: What should I do with the peas? If I make your recipe, I'll post a photo and give you credit! How amazing would that be?! Almost on par with a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer giveaway, right?

Vegetable CSA Week 1

This was the first day of a twenty week vegetable CSA. This has probably been my favorite first week out of the last three years. 2 bunches of thyme, oregano, garlic chives, 2 bunches broccoli rabe, a cucumber, 2 bags of spinach, beets, 1 bunch kale, a head of Boston lettuce and a tomato that is not pictured because it is in protective custody.

Thankfully, beets will keep a long time in the fridge because I have a repairman coming sometime this week. I cannot make beet chips until he looks at my oven. That's a pretty major setback so I'm planning on doing most things on grill or stove top. The thyme will be hung and dried for another day and the oregano will be frozen in an ice cube. I'm not sure about the garlic chives yet, whether I want to make a compound butter, a pesto, or just freeze them. The lettuce will make a great bread substitute or will go for a salad, while the spinach will end up as a pesto or dip. I'm not sure about the broccoli rabe, maybe a pasta or sausage dish. We often use the cucumbers as a substitute for crackers or chips, our 4 year old loves them this way. As for the kale, I'm still not certain. I wish I could find one go-to recipe that I like for kale but until then, it continues to defeat me week after week. Kale is my biggest nemesis.